(At four o’clock this morning, I (Jonathan) woke up and thought about the events about the past few days. They’ve been weighing heavily on my head and my heart. For some reason, I thought about my favorite book of spirituality, The Screwtape Letters by. C.S. Lewis. For those not familiar with the book, Lewis uses the character of a senior devil writing advice to his “nephew.” So, I tried to process everything I’ve been thinking the past few days by... Read more
Before I was confirmed in the Catholic Church three years ago, I had to choose the name of a saint as my “new” name. It’s not just for popes, after all. The reason for picking a “patron saint” is that this person is to be our guardian throughout the rest of our lives by interceding for us in heaven. And usually, it is someone whose story we identify with in some way. Peter seemed like an obvious choice, because I’ve... Read more
2016 was the year of my disillusionment. The election of Donald Trump seemed like a very laughable bad dream, like being in middle school when we used to devise masked ways to cuss (“Twat, did you say? I cunt hear you!”), only in Trump’s case, he really did say it, he most likely did it, and, my gosh, the Middle School just elected him president. And this was the candidate that I, as a Catholic woman who supports the protection... Read more
Mark 3:21: For they said: He is become mad. He was crowded by so many people that he couldn’t even eat, Jesus was. And so were those who followed and served him faithfully. And his family, not so much the ones who loved him best or knew him best, but the ones who thought themselves most qualified to judge, decided that he must be crazy. The leap is large and confusing to me at first, until I remember back a... Read more
A few years ago, Kaya Oakes wrote in America Magazine that “Catholic literary culture today might best described as a funeral for multiple corpses. This, for living Catholic writers, makes for a rather depressing set of circumstances to enter into.” Soon after, I went to the Future of The Catholic Imagination conference at USC and saw this funeral on full display. What depressed me most was that no one ever really defined a Catholic artistic imagination, how it gets formed, and... Read more
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. There are two images that drew me to the Catholic Church: the Eucharist and the Crucifix. They are separate, but in essence, the same. The Body of Christ, lifted up before all of man. I wasn’t always drawn to this imagery. In fact, I was taught to loathe it. Let me explain. In my early 20’s, I found... Read more
I’m sad today. William Peter Blatty has gone into the Unseen realm. As the writer of The Exorcist, he blazed a trail for us modern sacramental weird fiction writers. He is a big influence on my own philosophy of writing and story telling. My favorite quotes of his: “It’s an argument for God,” he says today of the novel more often considered an entertainment. “I intended it to be an apostolic work, to help people in their faith. Because I... Read more
Jess: What do you think we should name our book? Jonathan: I dunno, what do you think we can get away with? Jess: Hmm, how about, Strange Journey: How Two Homesick Pilgrims Stumbled Back Into the Catholic Church? Jonathan: Jess, they’ll never go for it. Jess: … Loyola Press: Hey, we actually came up with the subtitle, so we love it! All: (Much Rejoicing) Fin Coming Fall 2017 in book outlets everywhere from Loyola Press Read more
“I want us to recite the Lord’s Prayer together in the mornings as a family before we leave for school or work,” Sergei tells me. I roll my eyes. Our mornings are hurried. There is barely time for breakfast, clothes, teeth and hair. Do we need to add another thing? And mornings are still hard for me. Some days, although I try to be more present in my life and work the program, I don’t come downstairs to help at... Read more
My parish has persevered for over a century, resisting many of the trends that reduced the religious experience from the quest for transcendence to something a little more relevant, a little bit folksy, perhaps even tacky, and tackiness only ceases to be a sin when certain aesthetes critique the religious practices of apparently lesser souls. Both the interior and exterior of our parish are monuments to Tridentine beauty, and the choir doesn’t sing “Mary, Did You Know?” at Christmas time... Read more
Sick Pilgrim
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